Photo: Phil Smith
UMass Chan Medical School welcomed leaders from nearly two dozen venture capital firms, corporate venture groups, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies and other industry organizations last month to hear new company pitches from faculty members. The event was hosted by the BRIDGE Innovation and Business Development office, which facilitates new venture formations built on the scientific discoveries and innovation at UMass Chan.
“Bringing investors and industry leaders to the UMass Chan campus creates a forum for a new kind of dialogue,” said Huseyin Mehmet, PhD, executive director of new ventures in BRIDGE. “It gives researchers the opportunity to receive feedback not only on the clinical application of their science, but also provides an important perspective into the thought processes of entrepreneurs and investors.”
Nine emerging companies founded or co-founded by UMass Chan faculty pitched their novel technologies to potential investors. In the formative stages of development, these enterprises are poised to take recent biomedical discoveries made at UMass Chan into clinical development and eventually commercialization. To do that, the new companies are looking for investors and partners to provide financing, managerial experience, technical guidance and business acumen as they move forward to the market with a product.
“Academic discoveries don’t create patient impact on their own,” said George Xixis, JD, MA, associate vice chancellor of BRIDGE. “Events like this help bridge the gap between breakthrough science and the people, resources and partnerships needed to move technologies forward.”
Since 2020, technologies and discoveries emerging from UMass Chan research have contributed to the launch of 14 new companies, including four in fiscal year 2025. BRIDGE Innovation and Business Development works closely with faculty founders, entrepreneurs and external partners to help move promising discoveries toward translation and commercialization through intellectual property protection, licensing, venture formation support and strategic partnerships. The new company pitch day event was designed to support those efforts by connecting scientific founders directly with investors, corporate venture groups and industry leaders interested in emerging therapeutic and technology platforms.
“What stands out at UMass Chan is how quickly first-class science is being developed into first-in-class science companies,” said Kevin White, executive director of the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund. “The science at UMass Chan has always been innovative, but there’s a noticeable push to turn that into real, investable companies.”
“This reflects a broader shift in academic translation and venture formation,” said Xixis. “Faculty are increasingly exploring startup pathways as part of advancing discoveries toward impact, particularly as traditional federal funding environments become more uncertain.”
Presenting companies represented a broad range of scientific areas—RNA therapeutics, gene editing, AI-enabled surgical support tools, immunology, diagnostics and oncology. Among the companies presenting were:
- Surgitas, co-founded by Neil B. Marya, MD, assistant professor of medicine, is developing AI-guided support tools for complex gastrointestinal surgery and disease diagnosis;
- ImmunoScript, co-founded by Marcus Ruscetti, PhD, associate professor of molecular, cell and cancer biology, and Chaitanya Naimesh Parikh, PhD candidate in the Ruscetti lab and CEO of the company, is using mRNA-based approaches to enhance immune system activity in pancreatic cancer;
- Sebo Therapeutics, co-founded by Yong-Xu Wang, PhD, professor of molecular, cell & cancer biology, and Richard Gregory, PhD, the Eleanor Eustis Farrington Chair in Cancer Research and chair and professor of molecular, cell & canceer biology, is developing proprietary peptide-based therapeutics for cardiometabolic diseases;
- Nefes Therapeutics, founded by Batuhan Yenilmez, PhD, assistant professor of molecular medicine, and Michael Czech, PhD, the Isadore and Fannie Foxman Chair in Medical Research and professor emeritus of molecular medicine, is advancing the use of microRNA mimics to treat fibrotic diseases;
- Emfytos Therapeutics, co-founded by Katherine A. Fitzgerald, PhD, the Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research Chair III, professor and executive vice chair of medicine, associate vice provost for basic science research, chief of innate immunity and director of the Program in Innate Immunity, and Paul R. Thompson, PhD, the Endowed Chair in Biochemistry and Molecular Biotechnology II, professor of biochemistry & molecular biotechnology and director of the Chemical Biology Program and the Small Molecule Screening Facility, is advancing small molecule modulators of innate immunity for inflammatory diseases;
- ReTrace Therapeutics, co-founded by Craig Ceol, PhD, associate professor of molecular, cell & cancer biology, and his former post-doctoral associate Arvind Venkatesan, PhD, MBA, is targeting bone morphogenetic protein signaling pathways in cancer;
- Trinetra Therapeutics, co-founded by Claudio Punzo, PhD, associate professor of ophthalmology & visual sciences, and Julia Alterman, PhD, assistant professor of RNA therapeutics, is developing stabilized siRNA approaches for ocular diseases;
- Critical Mass Therapeutics, co-founded by Scot Wolfe, PhD, professor of molecular, cell & cancer biology, and Matthew Hanlon, PhD candidate in the Wolfe lab, is applying novel oligonucleotide approaches to target gene amplifications in cancer; and
- GapScore, co-founded by Sharon Cantor, PhD, the Gladys Smith Martin Chair in Oncology and professor of molecular, cell & cancer biology, and Jenna Whalen, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the Cantor lab, is building predictive tools to improve response rates to cancer therapeutics.
